After winning the first game 4-3 on a thrilling 10th inning walkoff by Brianna Rodriguez, the Northwestern State softball fell to Southeastern Louisiana 10-2 in six innings in the night cap to split a doubleheader Tuesday night at the Lady Demon Diamond Complex.

Trailing 3-1 in the bottom of the 10th inning in game one, Cheyenne DeLaGarza launched a two-run homer to left-center field for NSU (19-26, 7-11 SLC) to score Cassandra Barefield and tie the game, 3-3 with no outs. Brittany Virgoe followed by getting hit by a pitch and Blair Beard walked to set up Rodriguez’s one-out walk-off single down the rightfield line to win the game, 4-3.

Kylie Roos (8-10) pitched all ten innings for the Lady Demons and earned the win after striking out four. Kenna Terry (3-15) also pitched the whole way for SLU (11-32, 3-13 SLC) but took the loss.

NSU scored its first run when Virgoe was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded with two outs in the second inning. Hits by Roos and Cali Burke set the table, and DeLaGarza drew a walk to load them up. Virgoe has been plunked by a pitch 14 times this season to lead the Southland Conference. NSU as a team has only been hit by 24 pitches on the year. Burke finished the game two-for-four to register her ninth multi-hit game of the season.

The Lions scored the first run of the game in the first inning on a RBI double by Megan McCollum. SLU scored in the 10th frame on a RBI triple by Katie Doyle and a sacrifice fly by Kayla Elswick.

In the second game, the Lions broke a 2-2 tie by posting a big five-run fourth inning to jump ahead, 7-2. The Lady Demons committed five errors in the game which was too much to overcome.

Tara McKenney finished two-for-three with a run and RBI for NSU and picked up her team-best 16th multi-hit game of the season. She led-off the first inning with a single to leftfield and scored on a RBI single to right-center by Rodriguez. McKenney’s RBI came in the second inning with two outs. She placed a base-hit up the middle to score DeLaGarza who had led-off the inning with a walk.

SLU scored three runs in the sixth inning on three hits and an error. McCollum highlighted the lineup with three hits, three-RBI and two runs scored. Brooke Boening (4-6) started for NSU and took the loss after surrendering four earned runs in 3.2 innings. Sara Aasness pitched two innings of relief and allowed three earned runs, while Kelee Grimes forced a groundout in her 0.1 inning appearance. Kati Morse (3-4) earned the win the Lions by allowing just two runs in six innings.

The Lady Demons conclude conference play with a two-game home series this weekend against first-place Texas State. Game one will begin at 6 p.m. on Friday and game two starts at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

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